Key Takeaways from the Local Solutions for Local Housing Needs Workshop
- December 12, 2022
- Economic Development, Housing
On December 1st, SWRPC Planner, Sean O’Donnell, attended the Local Solutions for Local Housing Needs Workshop hosted by Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s Southern Vermont Economy Project (SVEP). The workshop was a packed day of peer learning and inspiration, with 42 attendees getting together to make regional connections, exchange experience and lessons in tackling our current housing challenges, and gather the necessary tools to facilitate progress in addressing housing supply and affordability concerns at the community level.
The SVEP is an excellent resource which provides webinars, workshops, technical assistance and training to help advance economic and community development projects that lead to greater prosperity in rural Southern Vermont, just across the river from the Monadnock Region here in NH. Like the Monadnock Region, Southern Vermont has identified the lack of attainable housing has continued to be a significant impediment to attracting and retaining workforce and the overall health of the region’s economy.
One theme that emerged from the discussions and excellent presentations was the critical role that community support and stakeholder engagement can play in advancing housing solutions from the concept and predevelopment stage to real action. Other themes that the workshop explored included the roles that local communities and regional planning actors can have in helping modernize local regulations, invest in long term planning for infrastructure maintenance and expansion, and working with the private sector to develop housing on vacant and underutilized properties.
The themes and discussions were invaluable and SWRPC will incorporate some the of the workshop’s key takeaways into our ongoing Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) and Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) work.
For more information about the event, please see the following link: Finding Local Solutions to Local Housing Needs – Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation.
